Saturday, February 28, 2015

LYSISTRATA, PHOTO BY MATTHEW PUGLIESE
Almost
2500 years ago in ancient Greece, Aristophanes penned a seriously funny
comedy about one woman's crusade to end the Peloponnesian War. With a
grand battle cry, a courageous gal, Lysistrata, rallies her female
brigade in a unique plan to force their male lovers and husbands to lay
down their arms and surrender in peace.

This mightily clever plan
has been transplanted and wildly updated by Jen Wineman, an innovative
and inspired adapter and director of "Lysistrata." It will boldly dance
across the stage of the Nafe Katter Theatre on the campus of the
University of Connecticut until Sunday, March 8.

Think improv
comedy, slap stick, burlesque and add a healthy dose of Groucho Marx,
Commedia dell'Arte and modern pop music, and you still won't be close to
describing this physically funny theatrical experience. Wineman has
moved the story to World War II when folk heroes like Rosie the Riveter
were embodying a female work force, ready, willing and most able to
assume the jobs of the men who went off to fight.

When
Lysistrata, a fiercely focused and vocal Lisa Birnbaum, calls an
emergency meeting, she summons Calonike (Adetinpo Thomas), Myrrine
(Madison Coppola), Lampita (Arlene Bozich), Venus (Shavana Clarke) and
Serena (Susannah Resnikoff) to join her protest. With a rallying cry of
"peace is more important than pleasure," she urges her charges to
withhold all sexual favors until the men sign a treaty of surrender.

On
an amazing set designed by Geoff Ehrendreich, the story explodes in
farce that is blatantly bawdy and lavishly lewd, not to mention
outrageous in an enormously obvious way. There's nothing subtle about
this talented troupe, with costumes to the max and mini by Fiona
Shaw-Mumford.

The entrance of the Commissioner of Public Safety, a
double-talking Blake Segal, moves the comic battle to new heights and
lows of humor. Will the women, headed by a determined Lysistrata,
prevail? Is sex the newest weapon in the seemingly endless series of
war games?

For tickets ($7-30), call the Connecticut Repertory Theatre at 860-486-2113 or online at www.crt.uconn.edu.
Performances are Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday
at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The Nafe
Katter Theatre is located at 820 Bolton Road, Storrs.

Strip shows
and sex strikes exploit the women's perfume and powder power as they
seek to transform weapons into statues of peaceful doves.

Friday, February 27, 2015

If
you're singer and actress Jodi Stevens, there is no such thing as a
typical day. And forget bored, she doesn't have time for it. As an
artist, she crafts her day, well, creatively. It usually starts with
getting her son Jackson, 8, up, fed, watered and clothed and off to
school. She thrives on the chaos that quickly ensues and finds great
delight in making order out of that unique state.

As a successful
juggling act, Jodi admits, "I wouldn't change it for the world." On
the morning we spoke, at 8:15 a.m., she was preparing to mentor a class
of eleven eighth graders at a middle school in Weston, conducting a
master class in the performing arts. She teaches her eager students how
to do mock auditions by preparing songs or monologues and has even
taken them to New York City to visit her agent, go to Actors Equity or
see a Broadway play.

Then she could be off to dance class or the
gym, to care for aging parents, to teach a private class out of her
home, to head to NYC for an audition, to fulfill the 101 artistic needs
she has as well as the needs of her son and husband, Scott Bryce, a film
producer and TV actor. She is continually "reinventing myself." A
special love is the extraordinary program she leads for mothers and
babies "Music Together," for kids newborn to six, to instill basic music
competency, like learning how to listen and she delights in "watching
children blossom." This Bridgeport outreach program has just lost its
funding so you can add fundraising to Jodi Stevens' list of
accomplishments.

This Energizer Bunny credits her amazing support
team at home with allowing her the freedom to pursue her many
activities. A favorite teacher once told her, "If you want to work on
your art, you have to work on your life," a lesson she has carefully
cultivated. Her artistic family, her mom and grandfather were involved
in a band, her dad is a painter, Arthur Miller is a distant relative,
all combined to push her to perform. "They always forced me to perform
and I didn't want to do it. I wanted to be different." Something
happened in junior high school, however, that changed her path. "I
auditioned for the play "I Ought to be in Pictures" and even though I
didn't get the part, the emotional work I did started me on a journey I
didn't want to stop. It was a delicious experience under extraordinary
circumstances. I began to fantasize. I had found my real outlet, my
team sport."

Theater has continued to open doors for this
talented lady. She is "passionate" about playing roles like Marlena
Dietrich, found Velma Von Tussle in "Hairspray" at Summer Theater of New
Canaan "so much fun," and being with her husband Scott Bryce in "Love
Letters" and Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" were all wonderful
experiences. She gravitates toward playing wayward girls like Lucy in
"Jekyll and Hyde" and whether it's Sam Shepard or Sondheim, or
Shakespeare, Stephens is ready for the challenge. If she had her way,
she'd love to play the witch in "Into the Woods," 101 parts in Alfred
Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps," or Carole King in "Beautiful." A girl can
dream, can't she? Theater is clearly where she belongs.

As for
her newest gig, her own cabaret show, "A Broad's Way," coming to Music
Theatre of Connecticut on Saturday, March 7 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 8
at 2 p.m., she has spent years creating a show where she sings and
tells funny stories, colorful tales about the characters she has met
along the way, the romantic heartbreaks that momentarily stopped her,
promising to "change the names to protect the guilty." From Broadway
and beyond, she has found "my own voice," and looks forward to inviting
the MTC audience into "my living room for entertainment and fun and
authentic connections, like they went through it with me. I
intentionally plan to break the fourth wall."

For tickets
($30-40), with a complimentary glass of wine, call MTC, 509 Westport
Avenue, Norwalk (behind Jones of New York and Nine West outlet) at
203-454-3883 or online at www.musictheatreofct.com.

Come see Jodi
Stevens alternately sparkle and sizzle, with Broadway and pop tunes
like Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and favorite
standards like "That Old Devil Moon," sprinkling anecdotes from her
technicolor career like so many bonbons along the way. You're sure to
still love her tonight as well as tomorrow.

Monday, February 23, 2015

A formal dining room can be the simple setting for a hurried bowl
of corn flakes and a fast read of the headlines at breakfast, a friendly
ladies lunch where gossip is more important than the spinach and onion
quiche, a gala engagement party to celebrate
an upcoming and long awaited nuptials, all the way to a family gathering
to acknowledge the multitude of blessings of a Thanksgiving feast.
Seldom has it been the setting for a plethora of stories more fulfilling
and rewarding than in A. R. Gurney's sweet,
sentimental, slightly serious, often silly play "The Dining Room."

Until Sunday, March 8, West Hartford's Playhouse on Park will be setting
a place for you in the honored seat at the head of the table. There you
will bear witness to a wonderful variety of stories that take place in
that venerable room of the house. A series
of scenes will collide and overlap seamlessly in "a mosaic and evolution
of time passages" according to one of the featured actors, Ezra Barnes.
The observations of life tell volumes about the characters, from their
use of finger bowls to their fiery defense
of any slight that affects a family member. The traditions of the
dining room are sacred and have experienced a succession of changes
over the decades, all delightfully captured by the playwright.

A talented and incredibly versatile troupe of performers - Ezra Barnes,
Annie Grier, Susan Haefner, Sean Harris, Susan Slotoroff and Jay William
Thomas - will tackle a multitude of roles, from scrappy lad to
forgetful grandma, architect to real estate agent,
lecturing father to unfaithful mother, a Thanksgiving of disappointment
to a marriage that needs repairs. What they all have in common are the
sturdy table built in 1898 and the occupants are all WASPS, Gurney's
favorite culture, wealthy and privileged White
Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who portray the declining vitality of their
lifestyle and of the table that was once the focus of their power.
Because of the success with "The Dining Room," Gurney left teaching at
MIT to write full-time. Sasha Bratt directs this
involving collection of family tales that pays homage to a dying
tradition and the people who kept it sacred for so long.

For tickets ($25-35), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900, ext.10 or online at www.playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Let A. R. Gurney be your guide into a world he knows intimately well and
introduce you to a clan of people whose lives have changed dramatically
over the years, even if their beloved dining room table has endured in
tact over the decades.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Turn your entertainment
clock back a multitude of decades from the 1920's to the 1960's to
celebrate the legendary Louis Prima. As a bandleader, singer,
songwriter, actor and trumpeter, Louis Prima transformed his musical
career to match all the trends that changed every decade.

In the
beginning in the twenties, Prima conducted a seven-piece band that
specialized in New Orleans jazz. By the 1930's, he had moved his rhythm
to the current swing tunes and by the 1940's he turned his attention to
the big band. Las Vegas lured him and with the edition of a new female
vocalist, Keely Smith,he created a lounge act that was wildly
successful. In the 1960's, Prima transformed his genre again, this time
into a pop-rock band.

Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury is
focusing on this musical duo in the late 1950's in "The Wildest! Hip,
Cool and Swingin! The Musical Sounds of Louis Prima and Keely Smith"
until Sunday, March 8. Conceived and written by Randy Johnson, Thomas
Porras, Luanne Prima and Toni Elizabeth Prima, the show concentrates on
the music, unfortunately with no patter or anecdotes about the pair and
their relationship.

Married in 1954, they were hired for a two
week gig at the Casbar Lounge at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, an
engagement that escalated to five shows a night, six nights a week, from
midnight to dawn. The two weeks morphed into a fantastic six years.

Come
hear the energetic and exciting talents of Lizzie Wild, Kristy Merola,
Jillian Wallach, Mike Nappi, Paul Binotto and James Donohue as they rock
the house. Their enthusiasm is contagious as they belt out, in song
and lively dance, tunes like "The Lip," "How Are You Fixed For Love?,"
"Everybody Loves a Lover," "Fever," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "That
Old Black Magic," "I Wish You Love," "St. Louis Blues" and "When the
Saints Go Marching In." Fun songs like "Hey Ba Ba Re Bop," "Nyow, Nyot
Nyow! (The Pussycat Song)," "Bim Mam," "I Beeped When I Should Have
Bopped" and "I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)" are a pure delight.

Semina
De Laurentis directs this nostalgic song fest, a tribute to this iconic
singing duo. For tickets ($39.50-52.50, children and students $25),
call Seven Angels, 1 Plank Road, Hamilton Park Pavilion, Waterbury at
203-757-4676 or online at www.sevenangelstheatre.org. Performances are
Thursday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8
p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come listen to this sextet as they
make "That Old Black Magic" and "Sing, Sing, Sing" because they know its
"All or Nothing at All."

Friday, February 13, 2015

Come walk down the illustrious red
carpet, even if it's not the more famous one, #87, in Hollywood. The
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theatre is rolling out one of
its own, with all the fanfare worthy of the Oscars and you are invited
on Sunday night, February 22 at 7 p.m.

Get your fancy fashions
ready so you're spiffed up for the photo shoot with a real life iconic
statue of Oscar, gilded in gold. And that's just the beginning of the
fun. Your next task, assignment and obligation is to fill a large
Chinese container with candy. Who wouldn't like to be let loose in a
candy store? You'll be able to nibble on red licorice, popcorn and
Oscars made of chocolate to your heart's content.

Don't eat too
much for you'll want to save room for the delicious gourmet treats
provided by Chef Leslie Tripp of Fresh Salt from the savory Saybrook
Point Inn, like Spicy Tuna tartar in sesame miso cups inspired by the
film "Birdman" and Lobster Pot Pie with sherry cream and winter
vegetables in honor of "Boyhood." Oscar inspired desserts like
chocolate panini and truffles will complete the culinary magic. While
you feast, you'll have plenty of time to study the wealth of treasures
available in the extensive silent auction, items like tickets to Bette
Midler at the Mohegan Sun, wine and restaurant packages, tickets to
Goodspeed and a golf day at Black Hall Golf Course. Raffle items
include a 32" flat screen TV, a Kindle e-reader and a Thai gift basket.

Remember
this is a glamorous fundraiser for The Kate. Master of ceremonies will
once again be Ann Nyberg, anchor with WTNH News 8 and Kristen Roberts,
VP, Public Relations and Community Investment, Comcast as well as Devin
Carney, the grandson of Art Carney, with Art's Oscar, available for
personal Kodak memories. For tickets ($65, members, and $75,
non-members), call The Kate, 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook, at
860-510-0453 or online at www.katharinehepburntheatre.org or
www.thekate.org.

Here's your chance to weigh in on your choices
for winning nominations. There is even a contest with prizes for the
most accurate accounting. Will you pick Stephen Hawking's story "The
Theory of Everything" or vote for "Birdman," "Boyhood" or "The Grand
Budapest Hotel?" Watch all the fascinating proceedings Live on a big
screen HD.

As
Best Actor, will you give your nod of approval to Ethan Hawke as the
divorced dad in "Boyhood" or lend your support to the ever popular Meryl
Streepwho is getting her 19th Academy seal of approval in her
supporting role as the witch in the musical "Into the Woods?" Will you
be bent out of shape thatDavid Oyelowe didn't get recognized for his
outstanding role as Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Selma" or that Jennifer
Aniston didn't get served a slice of the pie for her "Cake?" There's
always drama in these categories.

Come predict the winners
and the heart breakers and have a fine time enjoying the decisions,
whether or not you agree. Half the fun are the snubs,
suspense and surprises.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Every
culture has its traditions and customs, the guiding principles that
dictate who and what its citizens are. Preserving these tenets
distinguish one people from another. For immigrants, many conflicts can
arise. Do you adhere to the past or do you assimilate and adapt the
ways of your new country of choice?

For the Chinyaramwira family
who have settled in Minnesota, far away from their turbulent homeland in
Zimbabwe, they usually consider their place of birth an ancient
history. They have established a comfortable and affluent life in this
country and their success makes their old ties difficult to reconcile. A
singular event, however, reopens the past and makes it the elephant in
the living room: the upcoming marriage of their daughter Tendikayi
(Cherise Boothe) to a white boy Chris (Ross Marquand).

The Yale
Repertory Theatre commissioned Danai Gurira to write this tale
"Familiar" through their Binger Center for New Works. It will play at
the Yale Rep, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven until Saturday, February 21.
"Familiar" is an intriguing world premiere drama that brings members of
the extended clan together, calling forth a volcano of emotions capable
of destroying the surface harmonies that are only one layer of
thickness deep.

Marvelous Chinyaramwira (Saidah Arrika Ekulona)
is matriarch with a capital M. She knows what is right for the family
and every one must kowtow to her formidable wishes. Her husband Donald
(Harvy Blanke) has learned that lesson well. The upcoming nuptials
bring everyone home to the roost but the agendas differ wildly. Younger
sister Nyasta (Shyko Amos) still hasn't forgiven or forgotten that she
wasn't asked to be a bridesmaid, while Marvelous' sisters Margaret
(Patrice Johnson Chevannes) and Annie (Kimberly Scott) view the wedding
on diametrically different sides.

Should the wedding be the
perfect time and place to reinstate the old ways, to resurrect family
ties to Zimbabwe, to demand of Tendikayi's husband-to-be a Roora, a
negotiated dowry for the bride, a prize that may or may not include a
cow. Chris calls upon his younger brother Brad (Joe Tippett) to help
with the unusual financial arrangements. The Roora successfully divides
everyone, between those who feel it is spiritually rewarding, to call
upon the ancient ways and revive them, and those who feel it is
ridiculous to move backward rather than forward.

How can there be
a wedding with the huge elephant, or rather cow, sitting on the living
room sofa? Other secrets, hidden for decades, also escape from their
Pandora's box. Rebecca Taichman directs this involving drama with a
compassionate hand, on a lovely set by Matt Saunders and a fine cast of
actors who represent all the multiple colors and sides of the question.

For tickets ($20-98), call the Yale Rep at 203-432-1234 or online at www.yalerep.org.
Performances are Tuesday at 8 p.m., Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.,
Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Get
familiar with this family in the midst of planning a joyous event who
feel their past pulling them in a direction many do not want to travel.
The journey is well worth pursuing.

As a child, your mother must have told you time and time
again, "don't play with your food." As an adult, however, the message
is just the reverse. You're advised and encouraged to "Play With Your
Food," especially when it involves a delightful afternoon of theater
with lunch, culminating in an informative conversation with the cast of
actors, the director and, occasionally, even the playwright.

The
fun afternoon begins at noon and ends promptly at 1:30 p.m., starting
with a buffet lunch. The one I recently attended had a distinctly
Oriental flavor and optional chop sticks, courtesy of Westport's Matsu
Sushi, 33 Jessup Road, and coffee by Starbuck's. With plenty of time to
chat with friends or make new acquaintances, part two of the trifecta,
involves a trio of vignettes and excerpts from contemporary
playwrights. In this case, the offerings were "Her Heart," by John
Cariani from his comic play "Almost, Maine," performed by Cindy Hannah
as Glory and Jim Schilling as East. These two strangers meet under the
Northern Lights and East, a repair man, attempts to fix what is broken
in Glory.

"Mandate" by Kelly Younger introduces us to two men,
Christopher Wilkes' Drew and Jeremy Funke's Marc who have been "set up"
by their wives in a weirdly sweet attempt for some significant male
bonding. Completing the program is an excerpt from Neil Simon's
autobiographical "Broadway Bound" where a mom, Kate Katcher, reveals
some secrets straight from her heart to her caring son, Eugene, played
by Jeremy Funke. The entertaining afternoon concludes with a chance to
converse with all the participants and have your burning questions
addressed.

"Play With Your Food," under the talented direction of
Carole Schweid, offers these staged readings at three locations: in
Westport at Toquet Hall, 58 Post Road East, in Greenwich at the
Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Avenue and in Fairfield at the
Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford Street. Her goal is to provide
"the right mix of plays that are intelligent, thought provoking and
humorous, with themes that an audience can relate to and connect with."
Since
she established this theater endeavor, with Nancy Diamond, over 100 one
act plays have been presented, "all little gems, packed with a punch,
brilliant little pieces of theater." "Play With Your Food" is available
for libraries, personal occasions, corporations and fundraisers.

For tickets ($45), call 203-293-8729 or online at www.jibproductions.org.
Each offering is centered around a theme, in this case romance, just in
time for Valentine's Day. The need for relationships and connections
and intimacy are all explored. The dates for March and April are
Westport March 3, 4, and 5 and March 31, April 1 and 2, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays, in Fairfield on Tuesdays, March 10 and April 7
and in Greenwich on Wednesdays and Thursdays, March 11 and 12 and April
8 and 9. Make your reservations soon as they sell out quickly.

Come
"Play With Your Food." It's okay. You have your mother's permission.
Enjoy Fairfield County's most popular and entertaining series for
award-winning theater, fine acting, lunch by enticing local eateries and
a chance to chat with all the players. Who could ask for anything
more?

Monday, February 9, 2015

Humorist, author, lecturer, essayist, social critic and
entrepreneur Samuel Clemens was best known by his pen name Mark Twain and was
labeled by William Faulkner “the fatherof American literature.”While born in Florida, Missouri in 1835, he lived long enough in the
state of Connecticut, and died here in 1910 at the age of seventy-four, to be
considered an honorary Connecticut son and a true state legacy.

Sixty
years ago, in 1954, actor Hal Holbrook first donned the traditional
white suit that brought to mind Mark Twain. Since that iconic moment,
Holbrook's and Twain's names have been synonymous. Holbrook developed
his unique one-man stage show while he was in college: "Mark Twain
Tonight," for which he won both a Tony and a Drama Desk Award. Ed
Sullivan saw one of his early performances and gave him national
exposure. He was even sent by the State Department to Europe to
perform. Holbrook has done the role well over 2000 times. As he has
aged with this role, one advantage is that make-up is considerably less
these days.

Now
the city that Twain called home for two decades, Hartford, will pay a
remarkable tribute to Twain on the momentous occasion of Hal Holbrook's
90th birthday, on the exact day, February 17. All these celebrations
will serve as a noteworthy fundraising event for the Mark Twain House,
termed "one of the loveliest home(s) that ever was." The evening will be
filled with philosophy and wit and excerpts from Twain's most memorable
books, with an emphasis on the humorous ones, like "Huckleberry Finn."

This
gala event will take place at the Bushnell Center for the Performing
Arts on Tuesday,, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets ($25-75), call
the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at
www.bushnell.org. A special VIP/Gold/Broadway Circle Package includes
Premium Orchestra Seating and a private dessert reception after the show
with Mr. Holbrook at a higher ticket price.

His home in Hartford at 351Farmington Avenue is a tribute to
the memory of this man of letters, a house he designed and built and lived in
with his family for seventeen years, from 1874-1891.His beloved wife Olivia gave birth to their three daughters
there, Susy, Clara and Jean.In
1927, the house was rescued from demolition and is now a fascinating place
stuffed with personal memorabilia.It was here he wrote some of his best known works:“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The
Prince and the Pauper,” “Life on the Mississippi,” “Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court."

The Mark Twain House is open Monday – Saturday 9:30 a.m. to
5:30 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., with guided tours available to 4:30
p.m.The
first floor of the house is handicapped accessible.Admission is $18 adults, seniors $15, children (6-16)
$11.Take exit 46, Sisson Avenue,
off I-84.For more information,
call 860-247-0998 or online at www.MarkTwainHouse.org.

Come experience the charm of Mark Twain, as he is brought to live by the
talented and versatile actor, Hal Holbrook, who has devoted his life to
keeping his memory alive and

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Come take a
sentimental journey with grandson and actor Steven Scionti as he pays
loving tribute to the man who gave his life direction and meaning, an
immigrant Angelo Morello,from Sicily who owned Angelo's Shoe Repair on Main Street in
Middletown and who taught a young boy what is important in life. "Hear
What's in the Heart- A Shoemaker's Tale" written by Steve Scionti and
Anthony Crivello, and directed by Anthony Crivello, will play at the
Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport on Saturday, February 21 at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

A
32 ounce can of Tuttorosso Tomatoes almost sidelines Angelo's funeral wake
when one can't be found to make the required red sauce that Steve's mom Rosetta
Scionti must cook. A pox on the heads of her sons Steven and Antonio if
they try to pawn off a can of Progresso as a substitute. The boys have
to risk the verbal abuse of Jerry, the pizza maker, once they determine
that none of the grocery stores in the entire Middletown, Connecticut
area have the Tuttorosso brand in stock. Thankfully, Jerry, despite his
grumbling and garlic-tinged temper, relents when he hears the tomatoes
are for the boys' grandfather's wake, a much beloved and respected Angelo Morello.

On his death bed, Angelo tells Steven "I am proud of you." He cautions him to lead a
rich life, blessed with family and acknowledge the good in everyone.
His life lessons began years before when Steve, whom he affectionately
called "Stevenchello," started exhibiting a love for dance. His
grandfather, who took great joy in opera by Rossini and Verdi, would
conduct in front of his shoe making machines so it was only natural that
he would make Steve his first dancing shoes and pay for his first
dancing lessons. Angelo was always his chief cheerleader and supporter,
defending him when he was teased by his peers for preferring dancing to
basketball. Being called "Tina Ballerina" is not easy.

With the
message "A man has no dreams, he has no heart" from his grandfather,
Steven watched this simple, hard working man establish a life so strong
and true that two thousand people gathered in Sicily and at the St,
Sebastian Church in Middletown to say farewell on December 5, 1990. In
this one man show, Steven Scionti plays everyone in his grandfather's
world with amazing skill and humor, making them come alive right before
our eyes. Whether it is his womanizing Uncle Manny from Florida who has
a reputation as a lover of food and women or Brother Connolly
from Xavier High School who tried to teach the secret to sex education
was abstention or his Uncle Amadeo whom he likened to a "dancing banana,"
Steve has the profound talents to bring them each individually and
memorably to life. Anyone who doesn't see the Soup Nazi from "Seinfeld"
in Jerry, the pizza man, isn't looking hard enough.

Whether he
is doing disco, playing basketball, or channeling Fred Astaire, Steve
Scionti is adhering to a code of honor and respect his grandfather
taught him. To come meet his mother Rosetta, his father Sebastiano, his
brother Antonio, his Uncles Amadeo and Manny, the pizza man Jerry and
Brother Connolly and, of course, his dear Angelo, call the Downtown
Cabaret Theatre, 263 Golden Hill Street, Bridgeport at 203-576-1636,
option 0 or online at MyCabaret.org. tickets are $33.

Let Steve Scionti dance his way into your heart as he shares the wisdom he learned at his grandfather's knee.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

If you wear your
heart on your sleeve, if you're a softie for happy endings, if you love
to escape in the pages of a romance novel, and if Valentine's Day, with
its lacy trimmings, is your favorite holiday of the year, then a Romance
Lunch is clearly in your future. On Friday, February 13 from noon to
1:30 p.m., the Mark Twain House and Museum, in an intimate classroom,
will host a welcoming gathering as part of The Write Pros Appetizing
Authors Series.

Grab a red feather boa, a pink sequined hat and
your heart-filled imagination and come meet a pair of Connecticut
authors who are guaranteed to make you hear violins sing. The event
will feature a buffet lunch and a delightful and insightful conversation
with romance authors Katy Lee who focuses on suspense married to love
in novels like "Warning Signs" and "Grave Danger" and Nan Rossiter who
graduated with a degree in illustration from the Rhode Island School of
Design, wrote and illustrated books for children and now writes novels
like "The Gin and Chowder Club" and her newest "Nantucket." Connecticut
author Lucinda Secrest McDowell will moderate the talk and the question
and answer discussion, one that will feature book signings and door
prizes.

Whether you just enjoy the wonder and mystery and new
worlds that reading opens for you or you secretly wish you could write a
best selling novel of your own (like E. L. James' wildly successful and
lucrative "50 Shades of Grey"), this afternoon promises to be special,
informative and stimulating. For tickets ($20, plus tax and
processing), go online to www.The WritePros.com, call 860-653-7733 or
email writepro@cox.net. The Mark Twain House and Museum is located at
351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. The snow date is Monday, February 16.

Let
Katy Lee, who defines her books as "higher purpose stories in high
speed worlds," a writer of fun, exciting, suspense stories with romance
and inspiration and Nan Rossiter who weaves her love of Nantucket and
Cape Cod, family and animals into her compelling tales, ones that deal
with real issues like autism and Alzheimer's, entertain and enlighten
you on all the ways they capture and delight readers like yourself.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Getting married is serious business, but
maintaining a sense of humor is paramount. Once the bride-to-be has an
engagement ring on her finger, she immediately becomes preoccupied with
invitations, color schemes, her dream gown, china patterns, floral
arrangements, music choices and flavor of wedding cake. The groom needs
to select a tuxedo style. Controlling the myriad facets to the perfect
ceremony become critical.

Follow the comic and convoluted
concerns and considerations of one Fred Stroppel, playwright of
"Fortune's Fools" as he pokes fun at all the foibles that plague the
wedding of the hour. Connecticut Cabaret Theatre will be entertaining
the wedding party weekends until February 28.

A giddy Gail
(Jessica Rubin) is newly engaged to considerate Chuck (Chris Brooks) and
plans are full stream ahead to the wedding chapel. What would make the
nuptials even more special would be if Gail's maid of honor Bonnie
(Ashley Ayala) were fixed up romantically with Chuck's best friend and
best man Jay (Chris Pearson).

The plans to "match" their friends
quickly becomes a disaster as instant hatred blooms like the plant
Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors," a gigantic and prickly
out-of-control weed. Bonnie is a feisty outspoken actress while Jay is a
mild and sarcastic computer wizard. Their sandpaper abrasiveness is
hysterical to behold.

At Gail and Chuck's wedding, however, the
temperature changes and frigid cold morphs into torrid heat. When the
newlyweds invite friends to see their new home, Bonnie and Jay make some
startling self-discoveries. Kris McMurray, a real justice of the
peace, presides over the marital bliss with a loving direction.

For tickets ($30), call CT Cabaret Theatre, 31-33 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaret.com.
Performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. with doors
opening at 7:15 p.m. Remember to pack goodies to share at your table or
plan to buy cake and drinks at the dessert bar.

The CT Cabaret
is planning a special event with spicy overtones, for mature audiences
only, with two performances of Martin Casella's "The Irish Curse."
Leprechauns aren't the only wee things in Ireland. Performances are
Thursday, February 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, February 15 at 2 p.m. Call
860-829-1248 for reservations.

Help tie cans on the back of the newlywed's car, make a Just Married card and come wish Gail and Chuck well.

On National Dance
Day, the last Saturday in July, many studios like Arthur Murray, will
offer free dance instruction. Unfortunately, Ever Montgomery can't
waltz or foxtrot around long enough to wait for July. He needs to learn
to dance, preferably a fast moving one, today and he's willing to pay
for the privilege.

Andrew Benator has captured the essence of
Ever, all his charming quirks and ideosyncrasies, all his anxieties and
angst, from his allergy to strawberries to his fear of intimacy. Ever
Montgomery has Asberger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and he also has a
mandatory social engagement: he is being honored by the National Autism
Coalition. His work as a professor in environmental studies is being
recognized.

In addition to having to give an acceptance speech,
Ever is expected to dance, at least once, and, hence, is his dilemma.
Willing to pay for the opportunity, he presents himself at the door of a
fellow tenant in his apartment house with $2153 in cash, the equivalent
of one week's salary for a Broadway dancer. Senga Quinn, a prickly
Paige Davis, has been severely injured and her leg may never heal,
casting her dreams as a dancer into chaos.

Playwright Mark St.
Germain has put these two vulnerable souls on a collision course of
human contact and TheaterWorks of Hartford is measuring their tentative
and temper fueled steps in "Dancing Lessons" until Friday, March 6.

Paige
Davis' Senga is literally struggling to stay upright. Her body is
betraying her and, since dancing is her life, she has been thrown into a
tailspin that is devastating and depressing. When Ever pounds on her
door demanding a one hour dance lesson, she is helpless to resist his
desperation. What develops between these two lost and lonely souls is
delightful to behold, under the carefully orchestrated direction of
Julianne Boyd.

For tickets ($50-65), call TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.theaterworkshartford.org.
Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday
and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m..
A free student matinee will take place Saturday, February 7 and a
special weekday matinee at 11 a.m. will be held Thursday, February 12.
Come early for the art gallery upstairs' display of posters by the
Connecticut Historical Society.

The star of "Woody Sez," the
music of Woody Guthrie, with present a double fundraiser "An Evening of
Music with David Lutken," with special musical guest Antoine Silverman,
on Sunday, February 22 at 6:30 p.m. and Monday, February 23 at 7:30 pm.
For tickets ($40 for concert, $75 for Sunday's 5:30 p.m. reception with
the stars, an open bar and Hors d'oeuvres, call 860-527-7838.

Make
room on your blue velvet dance card for this charming, heartwarming and
poignant production as Ever and Senga discover the stars.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Fasten your seat belts for Miss Daisy Werthan of Atlanta,
Georgia is at the wheel of her three week old 1948 Packard.
Unfortunately the car "misbehaved" and demolished itself, a two car
garage and a free standing
tool shed. This was clearly the fault of the machine and was no
reflection on her driving skills.

Miss Daisy is a fine and upstanding Southern gentlewoman
of the Jewish persuasion, one who refuses to acknowledge she is
well-to-do. She also refuses to listen to her son Boolie who insists
she must surrender
her car keys and let him hire a colored gentleman to chauffeur her to
the Piggly-Wiggly for groceries and to the Temple for worship. This
feisty woman guards her independence like it is a prized possession. She
resists her new and unwanted driver Hoke's persuasive
ways for six long frustrating days, the same amount of time it took God
to create the world. That both happened are genuine miracles.

Until Sunday, February 22, you are invited to make the
acquaintance of this genteel lady with a backbone of steel as Music
Theatre of Connecticut presents a delightful thoroughly production of
the Pulitzer
Prize- winning "Driving Miss Daisy" by Alfred Uhry.

Rebecca Hoodwin is wonderful as the opinionated, feisty
and fiercely independent Daisy who refuses to give up control of her
life. Michael Boland is the loving and loyal son Boolie who knows his
mama is a "doodle"
but understands what's best for her. To that end, he interviews and
hires Hoke Colburn, played with wisdom and quiet dignity by Lorenzo
Scott, to escort his mama around town.

With stubborn resistance, Miss Daisy tries Hoke's patience
and over their twenty-five year journey together they form a genuine
friendship that is endearing to watch. Eventually even Miss Daisy
admits that Hoke,
her unwanted and unneeded companion, is her "best friend." Kevin
Connors directs this superb trio with white-gloved sensitivity.

For tickets ($30-50, seniors and students $25-45), call
Music Theatre of Connecticut, 509 Westport Avenue, Norwalk at their new
location in the Melissa and Doug Theatre (behind Nine West and Jones New
York) at
203-454-3883 or online at www.musictheatreofct.com. Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Mark your calendars for two special events at MTC: New
Voices presents "Page to Stage" on Saturday, February 28 at 8 p.m.,
($20), a concert that provides a behind the scenes look at how new
musicals are built
and "A Broad's Way" on Saturday, March 7 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 8
at 2 p.m, featuring Jodi Stevens in a cabaret performance of her
illustrious Broadway career, songs and stories that are sure to delight
($30-40, with a glass of complimentary wine).

Take a seat in Miss Daisy's Packard for a smooth ride,
with a few bumps like prejudice and racism, as Hoke chauffeurs you along
Miss Daisy's interesting life in a sentimental and gentle waltz of a
play.